James J. Stoker

James Johnston Stoker ( born March 2, 1905 in Pittsburgh, † 19 October 1992 in Greenwood Lake, New York) was an American mathematician who worked on the applied mathematics and differential geometry.

Life

Stoker began as a mining engineer. He received his doctorate in 1931 at the ETH Zurich with Heinz Hopf and George Pólya on differential geometry (over the shape of the positively curved open spaces in three-dimensional space ), although he initially wanted there a doctorate in engineering sciences. Hopf recommended Stoker Richard Courant, whose assistant he was at New York University in 1937. With Courant and Kurt Friedrichs Stoker was a founding member of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University. After Courant 's death he was its director from 1958 to 1966. After his retirement he Friedrichs followed into office.

Stoker was concerned with theory of water waves, elasticity theory ( plate theory, nonlinear elasticity theory ), Nonlinear vibrations.

He is known for his monograph on the theory of water waves from 1957, which deals with the linear theory. In 1970 he received the Timoshenko Medal.

Among his doctoral students include Louis Nirenberg and Jean Van Heijenoort.

Writings

• Differential Geometry, Wiley- Interscience, 1969, 1989
• Water Waves: The Mathematical Theory with Applications, Wiley- Interscience 1957
• Nonlinear vibrations in mechanical and electrical systems, Wiley 1992
• With Kurt Friedrichs, P. Le Corbeiller, Norman Levinson: Nonlinear mechanics, Providence 1943
• Nonlinear Elasticity, Gordon and Breach 1968
• Topics in Nonlinear Elasticity, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences 1964